William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells
Stuff You Missed in History Class
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Epidemiology and Innovation in Polio Research
This chapter explores the historical context of polio transmission through Mildred and William's groundbreaking research on disease spread. It highlights their contributions against the backdrop of the Great Depression, while also featuring a promotional interlude for an Audible Originals adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice.'
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Husband-and-wife team William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells conducted research that had the potential to make a big difference in the safety of indoor air. But it didn’t really have a significant impact on public health.
Research:
- Associated Press. “Super-Oyster Is On its Way to Dinner Table Bigger and Better Bivalve Sports Pedigree.” 3/13/1927. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020064/1927-03-13/ed-1/?sp=14
- “Brought Back to Texas.” The Houston Semi-Weekly Post. 12/26/1889. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1196039760/
- Decatur Daily Review. “Scientists Fight Flu Germs with Violet Ray.” 7/30/1936. https://www.newspapers.com/image/94335504/
- Evening Star. “Scientific Trap-shooter.” 6/26/1937. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1937-06-26/ed-1/?sp=7&q=William+Firth+Wells&r=0.668,0.557,0.438,0.158,0
- Fair, Gordon M. and William Weeks Wells. “Method and Apparatus for Preventing Infection.” U.S. Patent 2,198,867. https://ppubs.uspto.gov/api/pdf/downloadPdf/2198867
- Hall, Dominic. “New Center for the History of Medicine Artifact - Wells Air Centrifuge.” Harvard Countway Library. https://countway.harvard.edu/news/new-center-history-medicine-artifact-wells-air-centrifuge
- “Incubator Is Now Oyster Nurse.” Washington Times. 10/1/1925. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84026749/1925-10-01/ed-1/?sp=12
- Lewis, Carol Sutton. “Mildred Weeks Wells’s Work on Airborne Transmission Could Have Saved Many Lives—If the Scientific Establishment Listened.” Lost Women of Science Podcast. Scientific American. 5/22/2025. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-public-health-researcher-and-her-engineer-husband-found-how-diseases-can/
- Library and Archives Team. “William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells.” Washington College. https://www.washcoll.edu/people_departments/offices/miller-library/archives-special-collections/archives-blog/Wells%20papers.php
- Molenti, Megan. “The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill.” Wired. 5/13/2021. https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/
- Perkins JE, Bahlke AM, Silverman HF. Effect of Ultra-violet Irradiation of Classrooms on Spread of Measles in Large Rural Central Schools Preliminary Report. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1947 May;37(5):529-37. PMID: 18016521; PMCID: PMC1623610.
- Randall, Katherine and Ewing, E. Thomas and Marr, Linsey and Jimenez, Jose and Bourouiba, Lydia, How Did We Get Here: What Are Droplets and Aerosols and How Far Do They Go? A Historical Perspective on the Transmission of Respiratory Infectious Diseases (April 15, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3829873
- Riley, Richard L. “What Nobody Needs to Know About Airborne Infection.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Volume 163, Issue 1. https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/ajrccm.163.1.hh11-00
- Simon, Clea. “Did a socially awkward scientist set back airborne disease control?” The Harvard Gazette. 3/7/2025. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/03/did-a-socially-awkward-scientist-set-back-airborne-disease-control/
- “Texas State News.” McKinney Weekly Democrat-Gazette. 4/17/1890. https://www.newspapers.com/image/65385350/
- WELLS MW, HOLLA WA. VENTILATION IN THE FLOW OF MEASLES AND CHICKENPOX THROUGH A COMMUNITY: Progress Report, Jan. 1, 1946 to June 15, 1949, Airborne Infection Study, Westchester County Department of Health. JAMA. 1950;142(17):1337–1344. doi:10.1001/jama.1950.02910350007004
- WELLS MW. VENTILATION IN THE SPREAD OF CHICKENPOX AND MEASLES WITHIN SCHOOL ROOMS. JAMA. 1945;129(3):197–200. doi:10.1001/jama.1945.02860370019006
- WELLS WF, WELLS MW. AIR-BORNE INFECTION. JAMA. 1936;107(21):1698–1703. doi:10.1001/jama.1936.02770470016004
- WELLS WF, WELLS MW. AIR-BORNE INFECTION: SANITARY CONTROL. JAMA. 1936;107(22):1805–1809. doi:10.1001/jama.1936.02770480037010
- Wells, W F, and M W Wells. “Measurement of Sanitary Ventilation.” American journal of public health and the nation's health vol. 28,3 (1938): 343-50. doi:10.2105/ajph.28.3.343
- Wells, William Firth and Gordon Maskew Fair. Viability of B. coli Exposed to Ultra-Violet Radiation in Air.Science82,280-281(1935).DOI:10.1126/science.82.2125.280.b
- Wells, William Firth and Mildred Weeks Wells. Measurement of Sanitary Ventilation American Journal of Public Health and the Nations Health 28, 343_350, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.28.3.343
- Zimmer, Carl. “Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe.” Dutton. 2025.
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